County profile · official public datasets

Clearwater County, MN

50 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 50% rated Good, 50% Fair, 0% Poor.

50
Public bridges
50%
Good condition
0%
Poor condition

The verdict

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.

Clearwater County pairs a top-5% lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

Top 3%
lowest Poor share in state
0%
Poor-condition share
50
public highway bridges
1981
avg year built

Poor is an FHWA condition category from the lowest applicable component rating (4 or below), not a live crossing-safety or closure decision. Rankings cover counties with at least five public highway bridges.

Clearwater County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Clearwater County ranks #3 of 87 Minnesota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 0%). Clearwater County, Minnesota contains 50 public highway bridges. Roughly 50% are rated “Good,” 50% “Fair,” and 0% “Poor.” Poor means the lowest applicable deck, superstructure, substructure, or culvert rating is 4 or below on the 0–9 NBI scale. It is a condition category, not a live safety or closure decision.

Responsible agencies inspect covered bridges on risk-based intervals under current NBIS rules and submit inventory data to FHWA annually. The list below shows every NBI-tracked bridge in the county. Use the “Sort by” controls to change the ordering, and click any row for its reported inspection date, traffic count, and condition fields.

Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory. See methodology for full definitions.

Total bridges

50

Public highway bridges in Clearwater County

Good condition

50%

25 of 50 rated 7-9

Fair condition

50%

25 of 50 rated 5-6

Poor condition

0%

0 of 50 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#3 of 87

Among Minnesota counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better

Condition distribution

Share of 50 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good
50% (25)
Fair
50% (25)
Poor
0% (0)

38% of Clearwater County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

19 of the 50 bridges with a recorded construction year were built in 1974 or earlier. Age alone is not a defect: a well-maintained older bridge can rate Good, and 50% of this county's inventory does. Even so, this older cohort is the population from which future Poor ratings are drawn, which is why the age profile below matters alongside the condition split above.

Cutoff derives from the 2024 release year minus a 50-year design life. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

When Clearwater County's bridges were built

50 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 11 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1981, 5 years older than the Minnesota average of 1986.

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory (year built) As of 2024 NBI release

How Clearwater County compares with Minnesota's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Minnesota counties nearest Clearwater County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 0% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1981 against a peer-group mean of 1991 is 10 years older.

Showing the 5 closest of 86 Minnesota counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Clearwater County and the 5 Minnesota counties closest to it in inventory size
County Bridges Poor
Nicollet County 54 0%
Becker County 53 1.9%
Clearwater County (this page) 50 0%
Pennington County 49 2%
Pope County 47 2.1%
Sherburne County 47 2.1%

Each share is of that county's own total tracked bridges; peers are the counties with 5 or more bridges whose inventory size is closest to Clearwater County's. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

Nationwide counties with similar inventory size or average build year

Two NBI-derived peer sets for Clearwater County, both outside Minnesota so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MN (50 bridges here).

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MN (1981 here).

Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.

All 50 Good 25 Fair 25 Poor 0

Good-condition bridges (25)

T 384

Good

Over: SANDY RIVER

1.5 MI E;N OF JCT CSAH 1, Clearwater, MN

Built 1961 Load: 19.6 t ADT: 12

T 42

Good

Over: RUFFY BROOK

0.8 MI E OF JCT CSAH 5, Clearwater, MN

Built 1984 Load: 26.1 t ADT: 105

T 126

Good

Over: LOST RIVER

0.4 MI E OF JCT CSAH 12, Clearwater, MN

Built 1978 Load: 29.8 t ADT: 13

CSAH 11

Good

Over: RUFFY BROOK

1.3 MI E OF JCT CSAH 5, Clearwater, MN

Built 1968 Load: 32.3 t ADT: 155

CSAH 9

Good

Over: SILVER CREEK

1.8 MI W OF JCT CSAH 5, Clearwater, MN

Built 2023 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 260

T 194

Good

Over: WILD RICE RIVER

1.2 MI N OF JCT TH 200, Clearwater, MN

Built 2016 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 49

T 710

Good

Over: WILD RICE RIVER

0.5MI W OF JCT TH92, Clearwater, MN

Built 2016 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 49

CR 121

Good

Over: LOST RIVER

0.1 MI N OF JCT CSAH 6, Clearwater, MN

Built 2022 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 55

CSAH 37

Good

Over: MISSISSIPPI RIVER

1.1 MI W OF JCT CSAH 2, Clearwater, MN

Built 1987 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 195

CSAH 7

Good

Over: LOST RIVER

0.1 MI N OF JCT CSAH 18, Clearwater, MN

Built 1999 Load: 35.9 t ADT: 360

CSAH 17

Good

Over: CLEARWATER RIVER

4.6 MI N OF JCT TH 2, Clearwater, MN

Built 2000 Load: 35.9 t ADT: 213

CSAH 16

Good

Over: RUFFY BROOK

0.3 MI N OF JCT CSAH 4, Clearwater, MN

Built 2000 Load: 35.9 t ADT: 100

MN 200

Good

Over: Sucker Creek

1.7 mi W of Lake Itasca, Clearwater, MN

Built 2002 Load: 35.9 t ADT: 990

MN 200

Good

Over: MISSISSIPPI RIVER

0.7 MI W OF LAKE ITASCA, Clearwater, MN

Built 1982 Load: 37.6 t ADT: 990

T 5129

Good

Over: LITTLE MISSISSIPPI RIVER

0.5 MI SE OF JCT TH 2, Clearwater, MN

Built 2002 Load: 39.2 t ADT: 20

T 107

Good

Over: RUFFY BROOK

2.7 MI N OF JCT CSAH 4, Clearwater, MN

Built 2004 Load: 39.2 t ADT: 35

T 118

Good

Over: SILVER CREEK

1.4 MI N OFJCT TH 92, Clearwater, MN

Built 2006 Load: 39.2 t ADT: 49

T 5097

Good

Over: SILVER CREEK

1.3 MI E OF JCT TH 92, Clearwater, MN

Built 2012 Load: 39.2 t ADT: 49

MN 1

Good

Over: SANDY RIVER

2.2 MI W OF E CO LINE, Clearwater, MN

Built 2010 Load: 40.0 t ADT: 3,300

IRR BIA RTE 19

Good

Over: RED LAKE RIVER

35KM NW OF RED LAKE MN, Clearwater, MN

Built 2000 Load: 40.6 t ADT: 300

MN 200

Good

Over: WILD RICE RIVER

2.4 MI W OF JCT TH 92, Clearwater, MN

Built 1998 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 450

T 50

Good

Over: LOST RIVER

2.0 MI W OF JCT CSAH 7, Clearwater, MN

Built 1995 Load: 41.9 t ADT: 10

IRR BIA RTE 18

Good

Over: WILD RICE LAKE RIVER

LOWER RICE LAKE DAM, Clearwater, MN

Built 2006 Load: 48.5 t ADT: 30

MN 200

Good

Over: WILD RICE RIVER

3.5 MI W OF JCT TH 92, Clearwater, MN

Built 1998 Load: 54.7 t ADT: 450

CR 111

Good

Over: SILVER CREEK

0.6 MI N OF JCT CSAH 9, Clearwater, MN

Built 1960 Load: 55.1 t ADT: 30

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Related

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Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges

Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.